Friday, October 23, 2015

Elon Musk: the real life Tony Stark.

The South African inventor and CEO of Tesla Motors and
SpaceX is unstoppable. Musk with degrees in Physics and a proven a
electromechanical engineer is doing big things. He got introduced to computer
programming at the age of 10 and at the age of 12 he sold his first code of a
video game he created called Blastar for $500. After dropping out of the
prestigious PhD physics program at Stanford he decides to go into the
developing and changing the world with innovative ideas. The first one was
called Zip2, a web software company providing business directories and maps to
media companies and local e-commerce merchants that was sold to Compaq $307
million dollars in cash where Elon received $22 million from the sale. He then
founded Paypal which was acquired by Ebay or US$1.5 billion in stock, of
which US$165 million was given to Musk. Last but not least he founded
SpaceX and Tesla motors, two companies that revolutionized the industry in
their respective markets despite the initial years of losses on their financial
statements.

Here are some of the stuff he is currently leading:

SpaceX

SpaceX has an end goal: to take people to space as soon as
possible. With the recent funding cuts, government work and governmental
companies like NASA are contracting companies like Space X and boy this work is
lucrative. In May of 2005 SpaceX got a contract with NASA of over a billion
dollar for Responsive Small Spacelift (RSS) launch services by the United States Air Force. Regardless of the
money Mr. Musk has a different end goal. In an interview he stated he wanted to
reduce the cost of space travel by a factor of 10, with a project to colonize
mars in the near future. Musk reveals that he wishes to establish a Mars colony
by 2040, with a population of 80,000 and that we need to start looking at other
planets outside of Earth as a method of survival:

"An asteroid or a super
volcano could destroy us, and we face risks the dinosaurs never saw: an
engineered virus, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole, catastrophic
global warming or some as-yet-unknown technology could spell the end of us.
Humankind evolved over millions of years, but in the last sixty years atomic
weaponry created the potential to extinguish ourselves. Sooner or later, we
must expand life beyond this green and blue ball—or go extinct."

Tesla

They are the new thing, and everyone is talking about it. It
is evident that the market for Tesla is hot and they are trying to keep up with
the demand. According to Tesla’s website they are producing 550 cars per week
and they tend to sell every single car. In fact, when going to the website you
encounter a page that lets you reserve a car with a wait time of up to 6 months.
Not all has been success for Tesla motors, currently they are still fighting
against automobile dealers in multiple states because of the direct-to-customer
approach that Tesla uses. In my opinion, the fact that automobile companies are
lobbying against Tesla also serves as a propaganda to make the brand a little
more exclusive and desirable. Tesla may lose sales in 5 states but gains
recognition worldwide. It also gains recognition in the sense that it keeps
bringing new things to the table. A clear example, is the tesla Model X, the
first SUV that tesla produces. With ample seating up to 7 adults and an
estimated mileage of 250 miles per charge model X promises to change the
market. The price for the Model X has not been officially released yet but
researchers of the market estimate it at nearly 100K. Many argue that Tesla’s
are the future but that they are overpriced and only the wealthiest can get a
hold of them. But wait, Musk is already working on that issue.

The Tesla Model 3 usually starts at $35,000 before any
government incentives and deliveries are expected to begin early 2017.
According to the website www.plugincars.comas of March 2015, the Tesla Model X is basically
sold out. New orders submitted in spring 2015 will be fulfilled in “early
2016.” So, considering the lower price point, the number of hand-raisers for
the Model 3 could create a long backlog—a nice problem for Tesla to have.

SolarCity

SolarCity is currently the second largest provider of solar
panels in the United States. Although Elon Musk is the only chairman (not so
bad for being the CEO of multiple companies) he made a commitment to make this
smooth process for whoever wants to try the project. According to Lyndon and
Peter Rive the current CEO’s their goal is to make this process super easy and
accessible. You first get a free solar consultation where you will get a quote
and study to determine whether or not your location will surplus the initial
cost in 20 years. If so, you can go ahead and sign your agreement for the next
20 years where the guarantee no hidden fees along the way. Next, a solar panel
system designer along with a surveyor come to your household and gather more
information of the geolocation of the property. After, they start the
installation where they claim to finish in one day (quite impressive), and they
also take care of your permits and inspections. It seems like a solid plan in
place, as long you have the right resources upfront.

Hyperloop

The need of a better way to mitigate traffic and
transportation is evident here in California, especially in Los Angeles, and
that’s where Elon Musk came with the idea of implementing a high speed
transportation system driven by air compression and a specialized type of
induction motor. In his plan he claims a hypothetical subsonic air travel
machine that stretches approximately 350 miles (560 km) from Sylmar (a northern district of Los
Angeles) to Hayward (east of San Francisco) and would
theoretically allow commuters to travel between the cities in 35 minutes or
less. This is huge impact in the way we see transportation since this is
already faster than actual airplanes. This technology is barely being developed
and is currently in the being discussed from a economic perspective. According
to his proposal this will cost around 6 billion dollars. More concerns were
raised (like getting sick at high velocities, unpleasant rides etc) when the
proposal came up but his information and theory of the Hyperloop remains
unproven. Currently no plan of development has been issued.

Elonk Musk with 44 years has done remarkable changes to
society, and I am sure there will be more to come.